Miami Dolphins Defensive Thread:

[I am Bane]

Defense:

Awful start again... I continue to see no leadership out there defensively, no vocal aggression to bring the team together, no inspiration, no desire... so many adjectives I could continue with. Where would this defense be without Reshad Jones and Koa Misi right now??? honestly

DLine, no pressure, no holding their area or taking blocks with angles, and no flow to the ball. We did not face a great great OLine today, but we got dominated like we did. Karlos Williams was busting out for big games through tremendous holes, as our line got destroyed and LBs were destroyed into the second level... his 41 yard TD run he went into the end zone COMPLETELY UNTOUCHED!!! Most of their runs were stretch type plays to the outside too, where Vernon just seems not to understand any containment, and where out DLine has shown no ability to read, angle, and flow with the ball. with 34 Buffalo carries (and passing game too) Suh started showing ability at times (mostly second half as always) with nice plays... Shelby had a solid game too, flowing to ball, making a few nice plays (awful penalty to kill us though)... and Mitchell had ONE great read and play into the backfield I loved seeing. Otherwise, like nothing occurred... awful start all first half, continued for the most part all game.

Came Wake and Olivier Vernon... absent on pressure, absent on containment.... just absent? 1 or 2 QB hits combined for them. .... oh yeah i think Tanny had at least 8 QB hits against him.

LBs.... not good. Misi played a lot i nthe middle to oit seemed, he did what he could, he played best I saw out of them all. Jenkins didnt even have a good day. we are really hurting here not having a true ILB to help us out.

DBs.... Aikens missing tackles, missing coverage assignments.... yeah Thomas wiffed on clay out there for that TD, but I remember sooooo many plays where Clay in the open field for us created amazing TD runs after the catch, so I used to seeing it. Grimes didnt play overly Grimesy. McCain really got out manned... beat to the outside often, he is small and possibly not overly athletic (like grimes) to make great plays on the ball. Not a pretty game back there for anyone... EXCEPT... Reshad Jones!!! All-Pro season, he is god for us out there for anything positive our defense does!!!


penalties also again killed key drives at the worst of moments for us. Dumb penalties.


any thoughts? any comments or discussions?

 

[Travis34]

Defense is such a let down. Wasn't Vernon better as a rookie at stopping the run? What changed? There's just no discipline. I pray Reshad Jones doesn't get discouraged being the only one out there that cares, and we don't waste away his talent by never putting anyone else around him...

Is it THAT hard to wrap up when tackling? Can no one on our team do more than stick out an arm?

And I'm absolutely over this Aikens experiment. Terrible tackling, always out of position, just not ready out there.. Someone mentioned Chris Clemons in another thread and I'm honestly so down for that. Not flashy but I'd settle for that easily right now!!

We have so many damn holes I don't know how we can address them adequately in one offseason. I like the Tannembaum / Hickey combo thus far, we need to stop taking risks on injured players but I suspect those were meant as short term band aids anyway... Our first round pick next year... What's more vital MLB or CB? The free agents at positions of need are skimpy from what I browsed a few days ago. Just such a blunder by the coaches because we do have a decent amount of talent on the team

 

[I am Bane]

Defense is such a let down. Wasn't Vernon better as a rookie at stopping the run? What changed? There's just no discipline. I pray Reshad Jones doesn't get discouraged being the only one out there that cares, and we don't waste away his talent by never putting anyone else around him...

Is it THAT hard to wrap up when tackling? Can no one on our team do more than stick out an arm?

And I'm absolutely over this Aikens experiment. Terrible tackling, always out of position, just not ready out there.. Someone mentioned Chris Clemons in another thread and I'm honestly so down for that. Not flashy but I'd settle for that easily right now!!

We have so many damn holes I don't know how we can address them adequately in one offseason. I like the Tannembaum / Hickey combo thus far, we need to stop taking risks on injured players but I suspect those were meant as short term band aids anyway... Our first round pick next year... What's more vital MLB or CB? The free agents at positions of need are skimpy from what I browsed a few days ago. Just such a blunder by the coaches because we do have a decent amount of talent on the team

for me ILB is still #1, i thought it was last off season too... but OG and CB are right there too (one again like in last off season).

but i agree. aikens really is falling off completely, definitely out of position often and missed a couple tackles this past game as well. losing Delmas again with that awful knee, just hurt us soooooo much. that guy is a leader out there, and a special talent. Would help us so much more!!!

what is Clemons up to anyways? where he playing?

and with vernon, i just dont get it .... its basically the same big question marks with the rest of our defensive line!!!

 

[Travis34]

I think Clemons was cut from the Texans and he's still out there, not sure. Aikens is seriously approaching Gibril Wilson level.

But I agree about lb being the bigger need, could remedy a lot. If we could get Jaylon Smith... home run pick. Our next draft needs to be loaded with lb, db, ol

 

[I am Bane]

and why was Phillips inactive???

 

[oasis]

and why was Phillips inactive???

probably missed a meeting

I'm not going to say the way this coaching staff runs the ship is right or wrong, but it's clear that a lot of talented players don't even see the field until they've reached some standard of behavior and preparation that is probably irrelevant, if not downright unrelated.

 

[justdev7]

Defense is such a let down. Wasn't Vernon better as a rookie at stopping the run? What changed? There's just no discipline. I pray Reshad Jones doesn't get discouraged being the only one out there that cares, and we don't waste away his talent by never putting anyone else around him...

Is it THAT hard to wrap up when tackling? Can no one on our team do more than stick out an arm?

And I'm absolutely over this Aikens experiment. Terrible tackling, always out of position, just not ready out there.. Someone mentioned Chris Clemons in another thread and I'm honestly so down for that. Not flashy but I'd settle for that easily right now!!

We have so many damn holes I don't know how we can address them adequately in one offseason. I like the Tannembaum / Hickey combo thus far, we need to stop taking risks on injured players but I suspect those were meant as short term band aids anyway... Our first round pick next year... What's more vital MLB or CB? The free agents at positions of need are skimpy from what I browsed a few days ago. Just such a blunder by the coaches because we do have a decent amount of talent on the team

Aikens looks lost. He has the range to play FS but he simply isn't ready.

I totally agree about Reshad. I feel bad because he's flying around field making tackles. He seems to be the only guy playing with any sort of energy.

 

[justdev7]

and why was Phillips inactive???

We need to get Philips in there. Force opposing o-lines to choose who they're going to double team.

If they double Suh (which they should) Phillips has the physical tools to dominate any guard one on one!

He;s the only player with a sack to this point! Let him eat!

 

[Tannchise]

the defense will be bad every week. So will the offense. It's about who plays hard and the draft - and the journey for another coach.

 

[I am Bane]

We need to get Philips in there. Force opposing o-lines to choose who they're going to double team.

If they double Suh (which they should) Phillips has the physical tools to dominate any guard one on one!

He;s the only player with a sack to this point! Let him eat!

i agree Phillips has been looking good in his small sample..... the way we are consistently playing, we need to get that kid going more, work him for our future as well.

Shelby did have a good game in my mind though as well against Buffalo... compared to others. Mosely has been a waste, does he do anything out there?

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

Our offense is not good but right now this is the unit that makes me think we simply have no chance to salvage anything of this season.

In 4 of our last 5 games, we've faced: Teddy Bridgewater, Geno Smith, Blake Bortles, and Tyrod Taylor. All were INCREDIBLY efficient against us and simply torched our defense. There is obviously a huge problem there when rookie / otherwise unimpressive 2nd year quarterbacks are doing that to you.

 

[I am Bane]

Our offense is not good but right now this is the unit that makes me think we simply have no chance to salvage anything of this season.

In 4 of our last 5 games, we've faced: Teddy Bridgewater, Geno Smith, Blake Bortles, and Tyrod Taylor. All were INCREDIBLY efficient against us and simply torched our defense. There is obviously a huge problem there when rookie / otherwise unimpressive 2nd year quarterbacks are doing that to you.

even with a few different names with us on the defense, it has been a continuous issue with us, DLine, players disappearing as a whole unit... just poor defense.

going with the QBs that are making us look bad as you pointed out... we also have made many below average RBs look like All-Pros as well!!!

 

[jvw]

I had to stop reading when you said who are the leaders on defense? My question is who are the leaders on this team? do we have any? I mean we are talking about a coach who thought having Richie in a leadership position was a good thing to approve.....smh....when you chase off all the real leaders you end up with no identity....

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

even with a few different names with us on the defense, it has been a continuous issue with us, DLine, players disappearing as a whole unit... just poor defense.

going with the QBs that are making us look bad as you pointed out... we also have made many below average RBs look like All-Pros as well!!!

To be fair, Alfred Morris is a very good RB. TJ Yeldon ran well against us, and I credit him for that.

It's our pass defense that is truly unbelievably bad right now. The point of giving a 10 yard cushion is to prevent being burned deep and come up and make tackles short of the sticks. Well, we are being burned deep and we can't tackle anyone. So what the hell is the point of playing 10 yards off the LoS?

 

[.....]

Defense was my biggest fear going into this season (check my post on the first page of the "lurkers" thread). Coyle should have been fired at the end of last season. It's now past 1 pm on Monday after 3 straight abysmal defensive performances, and he still isn't fired yet. Unacceptable.

And I'm usually one of the guys preaching "continuity," preferring to keep things together to give them time to gel. I rarely call for a guy to be fired. However, given the state of things, Coyle needs to go. Now.